Natalia says: 'My name is Natalia Piotrowska. I'm 22 years old and I'm from Poland. I have lived in Ireland for 3 years and I work in 'Rua' Cafe in Castlebar which is a Cafe, Deli and Bakery. There are two branches in the town: one based at New Antrim Street which was opened by Ann McMahon over 10 years ago called 'Cafe Rua' and another at Spencer Street which was opened in August of 2008 by her children Aran and Colleen called 'Rua'.
If you would like to read more about the place, this is our website : http://www.caferua.com/ This is where my coffee adventure started about 2 years ago and I would never thought I will completely love it :) I'm enjoying my job and the best thing is- I do enjoy drinking coffee because before the coffee training with Java Republic I wasn't drinking coffee at all :) Cappucino is my favourite coffee and I think that is because I like that nice balance between the coffee flavour and the textures of both steamed and frothed milk.
My thoughts on the competition are that I would love to get to the top 3 in the Final because that would make me believe more in what I'm doing every day and it would mean that I'm good at what I'm doing and of course it is always nice to be on a podium. It would make me feel more confident and it would be really nice to become appreciated by people who really know so much about the coffee. I will be at the front of really good judges at the Final and it will be great thing to hear that I did it very well.
Saying I would love to be in the top 3 I mean I would love to be first but I know the Final is going to be difficult and I'm sure that the rest of competitiors are very good.
I would like to win because I have feeling it would give me more opportunities to learn more about the coffee and to meet other people, it would help me to get experience in varieties of conditions. It would be great to win the Java Republic National Barista Championship Finals to get that feeling of being the champion and to get through to the Irish Barista Competition Semi-Finals in November.
I'm enjoying preparation to the Finals and I just don't want this to finish.
And something from the other box about me.. Maybe that I love basketball and I play in seniors mens and womans team just for fun and also I'm basketball assistant coach of COMETS Castlebar girls U14 and U16.
Drama and theatre is my another passion and in the future I would love to get to the drama school.
I'm very happy that I got an opportunity to spend my time with all of you in the Java Republic National Barista Championship Finals on the 20th of September and I'm looking forward to it. I love challenges! :) Time is ticking away, see you in few weeks!:) Natalia Piotrowska representing Rua Castlebar
